Tag: Tired Pony

Hey, everyone! Happy New Year! I hope that you have a good one, and that you’re surrounded by good food, friends, and music. It’s been a long year over here (the epic dissertation struggle continues), and I haven’t always been the most attentive (you’re top of the list of New Year’s Resolutions!)… but I wanted to thank everyone for all their love and support. I’ve been positively blown away by the amount of excellent music that has been sent my way, and the… well, legitimacy, I seem to have stumbled into.

So, in 2011, I’ll be stepping up to keep things rolling around here. And I hope that you’ll be there, too! And since it’s customary, follow me for some things I’ve loved this year, as well as some things I’m looking forward to in the New Year!

Hey, everyone! I’m heading up North to Scotland for a week of relaxation, hiking, ceilidh dancing, and, naturally, discovering immortality after being stabbed, left for dead, and then awoken by the world’s only Scottish Spaniard. So, as you can imagine, it’s a full week.

But never fear! While you won’t have me to feed you little bits of things, you’ll have plenty to keep you covered.

I’m often a bit uneasy when it comes to “supergroups.” I mean, what does that really mean? As far as I can tell, it’s a bit like the musical equivalent of the All-Star game. Yet, the bar can be a bit low at times (I’m looking at you, Tinted Windows). And so, I initially approached Tired Pony – a new group featuring Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Richard Colburn (Belle and Sebastian), and a cast of guests that includes M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel (She & Him) and Tom Smith (Editors) – with a bit of hesitation. Thankfully, after seeing the performance video over on their website (which appears to have been shot in my old basement), I can finally set aside my doubts…

In an interview with BBC’s 6Music, Lightbody describes the forthcoming album – The Place We Ran From – as a “twisted love letter to the States.” Of its country-tinged construction, he adds: “I can’t get away with writing pure country music because I haven’t lived that life, but I love it so much that I always wanted to try my hand at it.” On its themes: “It’s inspired by my love of Wilco, Calexico, Lambchop, Palace, Smog – these bands that look at the darkness in America.”

The album is out July 12th on Fiction. (Available for pre-order in the U.K. on Amazon.)

Follow me to find some useful links, and hear a bit of Lightbody performing a Tired Pony track acoustic.